Difference
by H-Relics98
Summary: From episode "Out of The Past". Bruce Wayne went through with his eternal youth gift from Talia. And now that Gotham realizes Batman is back,the real freaks come out of the darkness.Can Terry manage them and a young Bruce Wayne too? Bruce/Terry.Yaoi
1. Chapter 1

_**Difference**_

Summery: What if Bruce had gotten his eternal youth experiment complete and still managed to keep his own self in his body. So now, he has eternal youth…forever. Based after the episode, Out of The past. So what is Terry's place in all this? And as Gotham finally has gotten used to Batman flying around again, the real crazies decide to come out and play.

Ok, I know, another Bruce is young story, but personally, it's so much better that way. I'll probably write about Bruce being young all the time, it's so much fun, things can be way hotter. Cause honestly, no one as old as Bruce can handle being in a relationship with someone as young as Terry, there's no way Terry would be satisfied (in more ways than one). So, yeah, but don't worry it's a different plot then "Something Other Than Youth." my other story and I think this one will be better and most defiantly more thought out and not such an abrupt ending. :)

Also, I might as well put a warning cause some people are just brats and like to review my story without reading it just to tell me that they disapprove. So, this is the warning.

WARNING: This story is technically Incest because in the episode Epilogue (which is not part of Batman Beyond series) it is reviled to Terry that he has Bruce's DNA in him, therefore making Bruce is father...sort of. lol

Also, this is Slash/Yaoi, whatever you want to call it. But it's a boyxboy story, don't like, please don't read and inform me of your disapproval (again).

Now, away with the nasty stuff. Here is the first chapter! Please review, I enjoy them very much, I really do. I hope you guys like this one! :) :)

Oh! Also, there is a list of slang words that is used often in Batman Beyond below and they will also show up in the story just as frequent. So, familiarize yourselves! :)

Slang:

**Dreg:** A Loser, a Punk

**Schway: ** Very cool; awesome

**Slag:** To destroy something

**Slagged: ** tired; exhausted

**Slagit:** To curse something

**Twip:** A dork;

**Rips:** Awesome

**Fiz :** A Drink; A Soda

**REM Deprived** Tired

**Spry: **Nimble

ENJOY!! :) :)

* * *

Chapter 1: Batman then and Batman Now

Terry was beginning to see the differences between him and Bruce…as Batman. For one, Terry wasn't as strong, but he was faster. Bruce had always had a bit of a looming quality in him…Terry, well, he was smaller, thinner, faster, he moved easy and didn't use intimidation quite as much as Bruce had, he didn't need too. Though Bruce was never slow, he just used more of a straightforward approach and he never talked, Terry himself liked to tease and annoy. And of course, as the Commissioner liked to put it, Bruce had tended to be cold, no emotion, while Terry was just the opposite while in the suit. He had turned down the mocking though since he first started, but still there were too many things in life that were dying to be made fun of, Terry couldn't let everything go. But as of right now, at this moment, Terry held back his tongue, as much as he didn't want too. Instead, he settled for many glances and snickers to himself, whenever Bruce wasn't watching that is.

"What?"

Terry shook his head, he also didn't know how long he could keep himself from random puns, mocking phrases, or just outright sarcasm, and he had already held his tongue for three weeks.

Terry jumped off the small med-table and came up behind Bruce, starring up at the screen with a small smirk on his face. In the chair, Bruce sighed and swirled around to look at Terry.

"Alright, go on."

Terry glanced at Bruce, not believing him for one minute. The original Batman may give permission at times, but his tone of voice never did. And well, now that Bruce was…different, well he wasn't going to take a jab at Bruce, not yet.

"Nope."

"McGinnis, you've been snickering around me for three weeks, just let it out so I can hit you."

Terry shook his head.

"No no, I promised I would hold back on the joking, I can't break my record now can I?"

Bruce glared at him.

"Right, so that little 'conversation' last night with Inque wasn't mocking at all."

"You were listening?"

"McGinnis, I'm always listening."

"Eh, creeper!"

Terry chuckled as he got another sigh from Bruce, as well as an eye roll.

"You should get going."

Leaning down, next to Bruce's shoulder, Terry sneered happily,

"You sure you don't want to go this time?"

Bruce glared once again.

"McGinnis, I've told you once and I'm not going to tell you again, now get your ass moving."

Terry laughed and straightened up, whatever Bruce said.

Terry wasn't sure when this…well, whatever it was, started, but it was certainly new. His teasing and sarcasm had started to become…almost, flirtatious with Bruce. And it didn't help that Bruce teased right back. It started three weeks before Bruce Ra's daughter showed up and then it continued right on through, adding another three weeks. However, the difference was that Bruce had gotten the full treatment of eternal youth, to an age younger than he had agreed. But Terry noticed how much more flirty he had gotten. Not particularly with himself, though it did seem Bruce was putting more of an interest in him, but with women…young women. And they flirted back! With Bruce Wayne, who was supposed to be almost eighty. Apparently, age didn't matter when the person looked young enough. Of course, Terry didn't have room to talk really, not with what was suddenly popping up between him and Bruce, though it might just be him. Still, Terry wasn't going to think too hard on it, not when he wasn't sure.

"Maybe I should talk to Max." Terry mumbled, twisting his wrist forward, leaning back into the hum of the bat car as it jumped a gear.

"Make it on your own time."

Terry jumped, managing to hit his head, and then let out a long line of curse words.

"Wayne!"

"You should be used to this McGinnis, whatever you're spacing on, stop it."

Terry grumbled, sometimes he really wanted to cut the radio link, but the last he had done that…well…Terry didn't really want to be reminded of that.

It was a quite night, just a few break ins that weren't much trouble. Terry had flown throughout the city three times before Bruce jumped back on the link.

"Alright, nothing too big, the police can handle the rest."

Terry grinned, just what he needed, early release. He had been bugged half to death by Dana and surprisingly, Max, to go do something for once. He had promised he'd try and get off early, looks like this was one promise he wouldn't have to break. It didn't take long to get back into the bat cave, jump out of the car, mask flying off, and strip down to his boxer's before pulling on his jeans and shirt.

Bruce stared at Terry as the teen rushed around the cave, accomplishing what usually took him at least an hour (with all the stopping to talk and play with Ace) in less than ten minutes.

"In a hurry, I see."

Terry chuckled and pulled on his jacket.

"I'm not going to stick around in case something comes up, that's what phones are for."

"Good." Bruce said, standing. It was then Terry noticed Bruce wasn't dressed in his normal cloths. In fact, the newly youth rejuvenated man was dressed in a pitch-black suit, a very slick, form fitting, pitch-black suit.

"Y-you're going out?"

Bruce smirked,

"Got a problem with that, McGinnis."

"N-no. What about Ace?"

"Actually," Bruce said, looking down at the large, black Dane.

Terry looked down at him too and groaned. He didn't have anything against Ace, really, he loved the dog now just as much as it were his own, but he had promised Dana and Max.

"I was hoping you could watch him."

"Wayne, come on. I promised Dana and Max."

"You can take him with you."

Ace whined for effect.

"To a club?"

Bruce shrugged,

"Go someplace else."

Terry looked down at Ace, whose huge dark eyes watched him happily, tail wagging. Terry could swear there was a smile on that dog's face. Terry sighed.

"Oh, ok."

Ace barked and jumped up from his laying position and charged at Terry, running around him in a circle before stopping and nuzzling his hip. Terry couldn't help but smile. He bent down, so Ace was at his eye level (a little above really) and scratched behind Ace's eyes.

"You're just too cute, ya know."

Ace barked and licked Terry's nose.

"Here," Bruce said, holding out a black leash, "just in case he gets out of hand."

Terry took the leash, but doubted that he would need it. Ace was smart and trained very well. The only time he ever took off was when Terry allowed him too during missions. Even if something passed by that excited Ace, he didn't budge if Terry or Bruce said so. Of course, there was also Ace's own intuition. The Great Dane tended to burst in just at the right time when trouble was lurking about as well.

Terry patted Ace one more time before standing,

"Come on, boy. Daddy wants to have some fun tonight."

Bruce rolled his eyes, but a smirk was there.

"If it gets too late, leave him in the front."

Terry nodded. He wouldn't of course; he could never leave Ace outside the Wayne mansion, not anymore. He felt bad for the Dane, even when he didn't like the dog.

"Don't get too wild, old man." Terry teased.

Bruce gave Terry a look, making the teen laugh.

"Right, right, not so old anymore."

"No, just not old looking." Bruce corrected.

Terry laughed again and opened the door, Ace at his side. Bruce closed the door behind both of them, calling Terry as the teen reached the front gate. Terry turned in time as keys were thrown at his face.

"What's this for?"

"My car,"

Terry gave him a confused look.

"You can't leave with Ace on your bike."

"Right, what are you driving?"

"My other car."

Terry frowned; he had forgotten just how rich Bruce was. It was a bit of a surprise though when two cars were sitting out front, both slick, black, and small.

"Be careful, I know how you drive with the bat car. If you didn't need it, I wouldn't be letting you drive it."

Terry chuckled,

"Come on, Mr. Wayne, I'm not that bad."

Bruce snorted.

"I mean it."

Terry nodded and opened the door, letting Ace jump in first.

"Have fun."

And Terry was off. Bruce smirked, watching as the car turned the corner,

"Don't worry, I will."

* * *

Terry slowed the slick, sports car to a stop when he spotted Dana and Max standing outside a club, waiting in line. Dana was going to mad, really mad. Still, Terry could think of something else to do…that didn't involve a park. Taking a deep breath, Terry rolled down the window and yelled at the two girls.

"Hey!"

Dana and Max looked at one another and then the car. Dana's eyes widened in shock, Max's crinkled in a smile.

"Schway car, Ter."

Terry smiled,

"It's Mr. Wayne's."

"Still." Max said.

Terry unlocked the door and with a click of a button and it swung open.

"Get in."

Dana frowned,

"I thought we were gunna be in the club."

Terry pointed to the back, Ace barked happily.

"Aw, Ter, come on, you're always working!"

Terry shrugged.

"Come on, Dana, we can still have fun." Max said, giving her a stern pleading look, as if to say just go with it for once and stop bitching.

"No way, I'm not going to hang around a park all night."

"We don't have too." Terry said, "We can hang out at my place."

Dana rolled her eyes,

"Ter, you're little brother is there, it's not going to be the same."

Max huffed and leaned back in the seat. She had been standing around with Dana all night and all she ever did was bitch about how Terry was never there for her. There was only so much Max could take, Terry didn't deserve this, he deserved much better. If Dana wanted someone to cling to her, every second then she could date Howard. And if she wanted someone who complimented her and took her nice places then she could date Nelson.

"Dana, just get in, it'll be fun. This is the first time Terry's gotten some time to hang in a long time. It shouldn't matter what we do."

Dana huffed back at Max.

"Yeah, aright, let's go to his house so he can fall asleep on me. Great time right there."

Max growled this time,

"What's the big deal? At least Terry cares about you."

"Really? Maybe he should try harder to get time off then."

"Um…" Terry said, looking back and forth between the two girls, "I'm right here."

But Dana and Max ignored him and continued their fighting.

"That's crap Dana. If he wasn't working you'd complain about him not having enough money to go do things."

"Well I'd rather have him be broke then have a weird ass job. It's not normal!"

"Hey-" Terry spoke up.

"Shut up, Ter. This isn't about you." Dana snapped.

Terry rolled his eyes and muttered to himself,

"No, of course not."

Max stood from the car and stepped close to Dana.

"At least he's doing something instead of sitting around all day and bitching about how you're life sucks because you're boyfriend has a job."

"I don't see him enough for him to be considered my boyfriend."

Terry stared at the two girls, suddenly getting the feeling were it was going. He sighed angrily and leaned back in the seat, arms crossed.

"You only treat as a boyfriend when it suits you!"

"That's shit! I wait around for him all the time!"

"Then make plans when he has time for sure!"

Dana growled and flipped her hair.

"I do! And I get ditched."

Max glared and jabbed Dana with her finger,

"Maybe he does that on purpose since you can be such a bitch."

Dana gasped and then glared at Terry over Max's shoulder.

"McGinnis! That is it, it's over! I mean it, I'm done!"

Then Dana just stormed off down the street. Max blinked in shock, she wasn't expecting that. She turned around to look at Terry, who sat stunned.

"You just broke up with Dana for me…"

Ace whined in the back seat.

"Shit, I'm sorry, Ter."

Terry sighed, shook his head and placed his hands on the steering wheel.

"Naw, it was probably going to happen anyway. All we ever do is fight anyhow."

"Really?" Max asked, getting back in the car, "you're not going to go all Bat-crazy on me."

Terry chuckled.

"No. Actually, I mean I feel bad saying this, but I don't really feel that bad about it."

"Still, sorry."

"It's ok, still wanna go watch a movie at my place?"

Max smiled,

"Sure, but when you drop the mutt off, you have to let me see Wayne Mansion."

Terry gave her a look.

"Ok, but only the house, no bat cave or anything. Bruce would kill me."

Max smirked at the slip, Terry had been doing that as of lately. Calling Wayne Bruce. In fact all Terry seemed to do was talk about Wayne, especially since his latest trip sent him into the wonders of eternal youth. She suspected many reasons why Terry didn't feel all that bad about breaking up with Dana and Bruce was one of the top ones. It was all starting to be obvious to her, though she was sure Terry wasn't noticing it. He may be Batman, but he didn't notice many things when it came to himself.

Terry and Max ended up watching only half a movie before Terry fell asleep, in which Max just giggled and placed a blanket over the sleeping teen. She patted Ace on the head and got up from the couch to fetch Terry's alarm clock. It was only 10:30 at night, she would sent the alarm to midnight, then Terry could take Ace back home. So she unplugged it and placed it on the side table next to Terry's head, plugged it in and set it for midnight. When she looked up she gave a small 'oh' as Ace had stolen her spot on the couch, curled up next to Terry. Or rather on Terry, Ace took up the entire couch, his head and front paws resting on Terry's lap. Max laughed and patted Ace again before scribbling Terry a note and heading out the door. The train station wasn't far from here so she felt pretty safe without getting a ride home.

Terry woke with the soft click from the front door though, shaking him a bit more than expected. Ace looked up at Terry as he flinched and whined.

"Hey, boy."

Ace gave a small, friendly growl.

"Max went home huh?"

A bark and Terry smiled, getting to his feet.

"Well, I better get you back too, come on."

Terry was a bit unfocused as he drove back to the Wayne Mansion in Bruce's car, Ace in the front seat next to him. Everything was going to change… it had already changed. Bruce hadn't found out about Talia begin possessed by Ra's Al Ghul until after the eternal youth had taken full effects, after four trials of being dipped in that smoky green liquid, and turn back to an age far younger than forty. Still they had gotten out, Talia hadn't and now, Bruce was stuck with eternal youth. Terry had to admit, eternal youth sounded great, even Max said so, but now Bruce was going to stay the same way…forever. He wasn't going to age any more, ever. The though scared Terry a bit. The more he thought about it the weirder it got. When Terry would grow too old to be Batman, well, Bruce would pick up the slack and Terry would be the one hiding behind the computer. Irony sucked.

Bruce had told him that he didn't feel right, getting something in return, being so…godly and they had meant to leave…but they just didn't. Terry wondered if the guilt bothered Bruce. He hadn't been keen on getting the procedure in the first place. Now it was done and permanent, well, Terry hoped Bruce wouldn't do anything too rash. Terry didn't dare bring it up, he wanted to know, badly, but it wasn't his place. Which also concerned him, usually he wouldn't care if it was his place or not, he would poke and prod until someone told him. But asking about Talia, about being eternally young, there was something in Bruce's eyes that made him back down.

By the time Terry got to Wayne Mansion it was raining, hard. It was also close to midnight, he hadn't thought it would take almost two hours just to get up to the Mansion. But traffic and weather conditions had proved him wrong. He wasn't looking forward to riding back on his bike. Still as much as having a bike instead of a car could be a downer, Terry wouldn't trade it in for the world. Besides, why buy a car when Bruce had tons of them he could use. The gate opened as he pulled up and Terry frowned, only Bruce could open that from the inside. He couldn't believe he was home already.

In a few minutes Terry had the car parked away and Ace inside the mansion. He frowned, it was…clean, all of it. The whole mansion was sparkling and brand new looking. There was light in every room and…music? Terry frowned and walked toward the music. Ace following on his heels. The hallway wasn't as dark as it usually was and an even brighter light was at the end of it, on the side. It was coming from the Dining 

area. Terry looked at Ace and shushed at him, giving the Great Dane a heads up to keep it quiet. Sneaking up, Terry poked his head around the doorway. And what he saw was a big surprise. There were at least 30 people in the large room, and Bruce was in the center, a glass of Champagne in his hand and a very attractive red head holding his other hand. Terry didn't let the twinge of jealously go, but he did push it to the back of his mind. He recognized some of the people from Bruce's company. Higher up's, people that Bruce has known his whole life. And there were others that Terry didn't know too, but he suspected they were old friends as well, some of them looked to be just as old as Bruce had been. In fact, a flash of white caught his attention and Terry recognized the women in the long dress to be the commissioner.

"A party huh." Terry muttered, Ace whined and poked his head into the dining room as well.

It was odd to see Bruce surrounded by women…young women…very attractive young women. Some of them looked barely out of high school. They all stood around Bruce, giggling and laughing, touching him whenever, hugging him. And Bruce, well he just chuckled on back with them, hugged back, smiled, and made sly jokes. It was different…it was Bruce Wayne…how he should be. The man that Barbara Gordon had fallen in love was back and he was back for good. Terry's boss and mentor was no longer just Mr. Wayne, the poor lonely old man. No, he was Bruce Wayne, a bachelor, rich, young (forever), famous, and very very much the playboy.

Ace whined again and Terry was starting to feel the same way as the large black dog. Bruce was the head of his company again and he was working as head of the company. That means all that money that Bruce had…it was going to triple in size in one year alone. Terry was starting to doubt just how long Bruce was going to keep him around.

"Slagit…guess you won't be seeing so much of me real soon, mutt."

Ace whined and licked his face.

Terry stood and turned away from the door.

"Come on, Ace. I'll feed ya and get ya to bed."

Ace whined again and followed Terry.

"So, the dog is the only one with a bed time around here, McGinnis?"

Terry glanced back. Barbra Gordon smiled at him from the doorway, her white dress flowing and bright. Even in her old age, she was very beautiful.

"Looks like I'll be getting one too."

The commissioner chuckled.

"Don't give up on him so easily, McGinnis."

Terry shrugged.

"I'm starting to think its gunna be a little late for that."

The commissioner frowned.

"You're really going to give up the suit?"

Terry stopped.

"No, just on him."

Barbra sighed and watched Terry and Ace disappear into the hallway's darkness.

It didn't take long for Ace to eat and drink some water and Terry put him up in Bruce's room, where the dog always slept. Kneeling, Terry scratched Ace's ears.

"Looks like a lonely night for the both of us, huh boy?"

Ace barked, whined, and then licked Terry's cheek.

"Yeah, me too. Stay in here ok?"

Ace barked again and with a few more licks Terry stood.

"Night, Ace."

Terry closed the door behind him and Ace jumped up on Bruce's bed, circled a few times before curing down at the bottom and falling asleep in seconds.

Terry though didn't have it that easy. He still had to drive back in the pouring rain, on his bike. That was going to take a long time. Terry hated driving in the rain, he didn't mind walking in it, but driving, no. but there was no stopping it. His mom would be home soon, late hours were usually really late and it was starting to get to that point. Not to mention school tomorrow…with Dana.

"Damn." Terry muttered to himself, finding his bike in the large garage. Swinging his leg over, Terry revved up the engine and shot out into the dark, raining night. He had better not get sick from this.

The drive home hadn't been too long, an hour, but the rain wasn't very kind and Terry collapsed the minute he set foot in his room. Which meant he didn't change out of his wet cloths and only managed to make his bed wet as well.

* * *

"Bruce."

Bruce Wayne looked forward, taking his eyes off the young red head he had been talking too.

"Barbra, glad to see you made it."

Barbra smirked and crossed her arms.

"Of course, I wanted to see how fast you would change back, Bruce."

"I only look 30, I don't act like it."

Barbara glanced around her and tsked,

"No of course not, that's not what this party says at all."

Bruce smirked and raised a glass of wine to Barbra.

"This is a business meeting."

"Mm-mhm. Tell that to everyone tomorrow when the wake up with headaches."

"A little champagne never got anyone drunk before."

A loud crash and then a deep, silly, obviously drunken laugh startled some of the party guests. Bruce chuckled,

"But martinis certainly do."

Barbra sighed, but took the glass. Bruce Wayne really was back. He may have the wisdom and knowledge of an old man, but being young changed you.

"Bruce…"

"Don't worry," Bruce said, taking Barbra by the arm and a way from the small group he had been standing with, "I'm not, no matter how much it looks like it, I'm not going to act like I used to."

Barbra stared up at Bruce, funny how old age could change someone just as much. Bruce towered over her, even when he was hunched over and now, well, she had forgotten just how tall he really was.

"Youth changes everyone, Bruce. You may not become the person you were at 30, but you already are close to it."

Bruce sighed and took a small drink of the wine.

"Is that really such a bad thing?"

Barbra shrugged,

"Ask McGinnis."

And walked off to go talk to someone else. Bruce watched her go.

She was right in a way. Bruce felt exactly like his old self, and now that he was going to be this way for eternity, well, he didn't really know what to think. But he was acting how he did in his youth, some things just came naturally. Still, Bruce knew he had the common sense of an 80-year-old man. However, some would argue that common sense from someone that old wasn't much better. Bruce knew that he hadn't changed much in his old age though…he had just become…bitter. Something about youth just had an effect on people, whether they want it too or not. Still, Bruce wasn't the cocky young man he was, being bitter for so long and sobered him up a bit. Of course, it was still there, even as an old man, Terry brought it out in him. Now, he felt like he always did around Terry with or without him, himself.

Barbra had always said she fell in love with the man he was, it looked like he was going to be that man again, forever. But the question wasn't about girls or Barbra anymore…it was now about Terry.

Bruce sighed and looked around, suddenly, all he wanted to do was be down in the bat cave yelling at Terry through the com link, teasing him, listening to him complain. Being social just didn't seem…well, him anymore.

"Guess a part of me still can't let go of the old man either." Bruce muttered to himself before diving back into the groups of richly dressed people.

Whatever was going to happen, it was going to be different…much different.

* * *

Yay! First Chapter! Please tell me what you guys think! And the only way to do that is to review. LOL! Well, I hope you guys enjoyed it! Look for the next chapter!

-Laters,

H-Relics


	2. Chapter 2

_**Difference**_

Summery: What if Bruce had gotten his eternal youth experiment complete and still managed to keep his own self in his body. So now, he has eternal youth…forever. Based after the episode, Out of The past. So what is Terry's place in all this? And as Gotham finally has gotten used to Batman flying around again, the real crazies decide to come out and play.

READ THIS LITTLE PARAGRAPH, IF YOU DON'T YOU ARE MISSING SOMETHING IMPORTANT!!:Yay second chapter up! I'm on a roll!! lol I've started the third one too! I need to write smex. Speaking of, since Fan does not allow really...really explicit sexual stuff, SO I will have all the yummy lemons and such on my Deviant art site. You can read the original version of whatever chapters I mark with lemons there. This just happens to be one. The link to my Deviant art site is in my profile! Please go read the original version if you want!I promise it is worth it. :) :)

you can review there or review here on the edited version. :)

Anyway, I hope you guys like this chapter! It was fun to write. lol

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Batman Beyond...sadly. But if I did then this would really happen and all the major hard core Batman fans would kill me. Which I find hilarious, cause I myself am a hardcore Batman fan. :)

Enjoy!!

* * *

Ch. 2-Sickly...hot?

Terry groaned and turned over. His head ached and burned, his chest felt heavy, his throat hurt, he couldn't breathe through his nose, and he was freezing. He was sick…really sick. And somehow he wanted to kill Bruce for it.

Twisting around again, Terry looked at the small red numbers on the other side of the bed, it was 6 am and school was in an hour. He groaned, school was not something he wanted to deal with right now…or rather, the people at school. Still, if he missed any more class of calculus, he was going to fail it. And so, Terry pushed himself off of his bed, wincing as his head protested. He managed to stand without falling over, but that only got him to realize that his sheets were damp and his cloths were as well. He sighed and 

stripped, completely, the rainwater and sunk into his boxers as well. He dug around in his drawer for new cloths. Pulling on new boxers, black, and a different pair of jeans, black as well, Terry looked at his sheets. He sighed and went over to his bed, stripped it as well and tossed the wet cloth into a pile with his other wet cloths. Which included his jacket, he was going to be cold going to school today.

"Terry!" a loud knock at his door made him jump, "get up!"

Terry grunted a response not trusting his voice, it hurt enough to swallow. Quickly grabbing a shirt from his closest, he pulled it on over his head. At least he had taken a long sleeved shirt. He stretched and grabbed his backpack, bat-suit and laptop inside.

The light outside his room was bright and made his head hurt even more. Terry frowned and moved around his home, shielding his eyes occasionally. He snuck some painkillers and day-quill into his backpack before grabbing an apple and nodded to his mom as he went out the door.

A cold gust hit Terry the minute he stepped outside and he shivered. It was wintertime in Gotham and Terry was not looking forward to it. He glanced up at the sky, the sun barely rising, covered in thick, dark clouds, making the city even darker than normal. He glared and hoped it wouldn't rain until he got to school. Swinging onto his bike, Terry sped off down the road, going faster than he probably should. But getting rained on again was not good for his health, his immune system was weak enough with all the late nights and no time to eat much.

It was starting to drizzle as Terry pulled up to the school and it didn't take him long to through a plastic tarp over his bike and run into the building, just as the drizzle started to pick up. Terry shivered as he watched the rain patter on the concrete floor, students rushing to get inside.

"Cold, Ter?"

Terry glanced behind him at Max and smirked.

"Just a bit."

"Where's your jacket?"

"Home, wet, along with my sheets."

Max shook her head.

"Got rained on the way back huh?"

Terry nodded and shivered again.

"Well, I'd give you my jacket, but I think it's a little small."

Terry laughed and shook his hand at her.

"Yeah, that's ok. I'll suffer."

Max smiled at him but her eyes held worry. Terry's voice was rough, scratchy. His face was pale and he shivered far too often to be just cold. He was moving slow, as she had to stop when she kept walking too far ahead.

But it wasn't until first period had ended did she become really worried. Terry had drowned four pills in an hour and a quarter of the day-quill bottle. With all those drugs pumping through his system, Terry was completely out of it. And it didn't seem to stop him from shivering, his voice only got worse and he had to talk in whispers now. But the drugs had to have numbed Terry from the cold's symptoms, he didn't seem to notice. To make things worse Dana had brushed past him, knocking him into an unbalanced mode…while he was sitting down. Thankful he didn't fall off his chair, Terry didn't need anything else going bad for him right now.

By the time lunch came around Terry had managed to sleep through half of second period, scribble down calculus notes that turned out to be doodles of…well, Batman. Which Max was currently looking at, a very amused expression on her face.

"Ter, why don't you borrow my notes today."

Terry grunted a response.

Max didn't even know how Terry could write down notes, he could have just used his computer. Paper wasn't used much in school anymore, especially for notes and homework. It was all done on the computer. Still it was very amusing, her favorite doodle was the one of Batman flying around before smacking into a building. She supposed that Terry felt like doing that sometimes.

Max looked at Terry from behind the paper, about to say something but stopped. Terry was bent over, head on the table, sleeping. Max sighed and put the notes down.

"Terry." She said and reached over, patting his head to wake him. She frowned, he felt warm.

Max stood and knelt next to Terry, pushing his bangs away and slipped her thin hand on his forehead. Her brows lined down, he was too warm.

"McGinnis, stop wearing yourself out."

She stood and pulled out her phone. She doubted that Terry's mother knew he was sick; he hid things very well when he wanted. So, calling her was out, Terry would be angry if 

his mom made him stay home, plus Max knew that Terry couldn't do that, Batman wasn't allowed to call in sick days. Taking him home wasn't an option either, Terry was really sick and drained, emotionally too, even if he wouldn't admit it. He needed someone to at least be in the same house as he was. So, she dialed the number she was forbid to call unless it was an emergency.

Bruce paused in his speech as his phone rang loud and clear throughout the meeting room.

"Excuse me."

He stepped out of the room quickly and looked at the name sprawling across his screen. He was a bit irritated but Max did only call when it was an emergency. He sighed and answered.

"What Max?"

"Mr. Wayne! Good, I thought you weren't going to pick up."

"I'm in the middle of a meeting, Max, get to the point."

"Ter- oh, you're in a meeting."

Bruce sighed and rubbed his temples.

"Yes, I am."

"Well, I don't Terry's going to make it today."

Bruce frowned and was just about to ask why, but his secretary poked her head out.

"Mr. Wayne, we're waiting."

"I'll call you back." Bruce said and hung up, not bothering to listen to what Max tried to tell him over the phone.

During the meeting though his mind wasn't on the company, instead on Terry. Max had said he couldn't make it, to work? Terry didn't have a choice, he had to come, he was Batman. Homework was not an excuse to skip out a night. Still, Bruce couldn't help but worry. He had been doing that more and more lately, worry. Even before Talia had come with her…generous gift, he had still begun to worry about Terry.

He was also a bit worried about himself. Six weeks ago something changed. He didn't know what, but it did. Him and Terry had become…flirtatious. And it had started when he was old and then continued on after the eternal youth experiment had been done and over. Somehow Terry felt distant at the same time when they came back. Something was bother Terry and Bruce was surprised that Terry didn't come right out and say it. But Terry had kept up the teasing…the flirting. And Bruce was starting to think he wouldn't be able to control himself. Ever since they got back from Talia's lab…Bruce had been getting dreams. Of course, he'd had the same dreams before the youth change, but now they were intense and very vivid. He wasn't sure what he was going to do about it.

He's had this happen before, with Dick. Of course, his first Robin had been very persistent, but Bruce didn't give in. in the end Dick hated him the most out of the others. It was probably because he had loved him, more than Barbra ever did. A women's love was different from a man's. And even though he had the same thing happen with Dick, the dreams had never been like this. Bruce had never wanted someone so bad. He knew it wasn't the hormones of being young. He knew the moment he laid eyes on Terry. Knew he would want him bad, even as an 80-year-old man. It scared Bruce at first; having such a dream, waking up hard…he hadn't been able to do that for years. Then all of a sudden, a teen comes in out of nowhere, demands to be Batman and suddenly Bruce was feeling like a perverted old man. Which in a way he rather was. But the more he got to know Terry the more he started to like the idea. And then all of a sudden Terry started acting…giddy around him and this…well whatever it was, developed between them. And thanks to Talia's 'present' Bruce had dreams every night about Terry.

He dreamt about kissing him, holding him…about fucking him. It was intense. He could hear Terry's moans, feel his skin, and even taste him in the dream. Afterwords when he woke aching, he swore he could still hear Terry, still feel him…and oddly enough still taste him, though he really had no idea what Terry tasted like. Then the dreams stayed with him. He would hear something that remind of Terry and picture his thin waist, and full lips. He would smell something that would make Bruce stop, breathing hard as a vision of fucking Terry hard into his bed would flash in his mind.

But it wasn't just lust that Bruce was feeling. No, he knew what it really was. He had felt it so many times before, with Dick, Barbra, and Talia. Bruce hated to admit it, but he was. He was in love. He would walk down the street and see something that Terry would like, visit places Terry would love to go. He would worry, constantly, even when Terry was just at school or at home. When Terry was with him, he couldn't help but get dragged into mocking arguments, just to see Terry smile or hear him laugh. At times Bruce would wish Terry would come back from his routine with a cut or a wound, just so he could be close to him. Other times he wished Terry would come back safe and healthy.

Bruce snapped back to the meeting as everyone around him closed his or her laptop and stood. It was over and Bruce had missed the end. He didn't feel too bad though, every meeting was recorded, he could just go back over the vids. He looked at the clock and frowned, Terry was getting out of school by now. Bruce had been going in circles in his mind for too long. He had to focus on what was to be done for the rest of the day and quickly get back to the mansion before Terry arrived there.

Bruce frowned, as the raining hit against the windows hard. Half of his office was windows, as he had taken over Power's office as his own, on the top floor, overlooking the entire city. It was a bit large too, an entire floor as an office, still Bruce didn't mind the space or the fact that no one was allowed in unless beeped in. there were no bulky doors either, as the elevator came up through the floor.

Though he told himself to get focus, he drifted off again. The rain made him do that, but only because the rain reminded him of Terry. Of how Terry looked, soaking wet, grinning at him, hair plastered to his face, eyes wide and shinning happily. His cloths sticking to his body, tighter than they already were. And of other times, Terry shivering him, looking so pathetic it was cute, glancing up at him through his wet bangs, hanging in front of his face. His arms wrapped around his body, trying to keep warm, body hunched over. And then of Bruce giving Terry a towel, letting him dry his hair and then keep the towel around his shoulders. And when Terry would leave for the night, Bruce would let the towel dry and it smelled of rain and Terry.

And there was the way Terry would pull his wet clothes off of him, to put on the suit. Bruce had more than once glanced at Terry, slipping down his wet, tight jeans over creamy, smooth legs, which surprisingly had very little hair on them and it was light as well. The way Terry's black shirt would bunch up, covering his chest, but contrasting against his pale stomach, were the outline of a six-pack was forming. There was always the happy little sighs as Terry got the wet clothes off and then the grunts when he had to put them back on.

Bruce groaned and ran his hand through his slicked back, black hair. This really was becoming a problem.

Terry groaned, this was really becoming a problem. He couldn't see very well, he felt way worse than he had that morning and he did not want to drive up to Wayne Mansion in the rain…again. Sniffling, Terry stepped out into the rain, but a thin arm held him back.

"Whoa there Ter," Max said, "I'll give you a ride."

Terry could have cried.

"Really? Schway, you're the best, Max."

Max giggled and patted his back.

"I know. Now come on."

"What about my bike?"

"I'll come back and get it with my Dad's truck."

Terry really did think he was going to cry.

So Max drove Terry to the Wayne Mansion, though she had tried to convince Terry to just go home. But Terry insisted and just drowned down the rest of his Day-Quill, which wasn't much and Terry doubted it would do him any good. Max just tsked him and told him it was his mistake. Terry though couldn't just take a night off. It seemed whenever he had, one of the worst crimes happened. Even though lately there hadn't been much, Terry felt like all he had been doing was driving back and forth between his house and the Mansion. He kind of wished for something to happen. And didn't just have to be crime, it could be something with Bruce.

Terry blushed, he really should not start thinking about Bruce right now. But he was a teen…and they couldn't always stop from thinking things. He wondered if Bruce could tell that the air between them was different. He hoped so too. Terry had never been one to go for men, ever, but Bruce was…well Bruce. There was something so different about him. Terry had been amazed when he saw Bruce for the first time young. And now Terry couldn't stop thinking about it. His nicely tanned skin, his thick black hair, his muscles. Terry was impressed at the size of Bruce. He was tall, very tall. Terry had always thought Bruce loomed over him, now it was triple the feeling. And his eyes, Terry thought Women had sexy eyes, none of them compared to Bruce's. His were narrow, long black lashes, and stunningly bright blue. Terry had a hard time thinking about anything but sex when Bruce started at him with those eyes. It had been such a change from the eyes of a bitter old man. Even his voice was different, wasn't shaky at times. No, it was deeper, stronger, and husky. He was also surprised at Bruce's strength. He could lift Terry off the ground with one hand without the bat suit. Terry could just barely do that with the bat suit on. It made Terry want Bruce to do things to him. Rough things.

Terry guessed that the reason he was so attracted to Bruce as because he was so strong and tended to be rough. All teen girls were looking for love, not rough one-night stands. And while Terry wouldn't mind falling in love, having a rough night of sex just seemed to make him crazy. He wasn't going to get that with women. Bruce also made 

him feel strangely submissive. That was a new feeling to him and Terry was beginning to like feeling like that.

"Ok, Ter."

Terry jumped, the car had stopped.

"Thanks, Max." he said, wincing when his vocal cords protested against a voice louder than a whisper.

He shut the door and ran for the two large front doors of the mansion. The gate had been open, just like it always was until Terry arrived. He stood on the steps and watched Max drive away. He shivered and pulled his tight long sleeves down until they were over half of his palms, resting on his first set of knuckles. He raised one cloth-covered fist and was about to knock when one of the doors swung open, and Bruce stood there.

Terry looked like a deer in headlights, not expecting the door to pull open in a few seconds. Plus, it didn't help that Bruce had on another one of his form fitting suits and his hair all slicked back and sexy.

"H-hey." Terry said, a bit too loud and his vocal cords protested again, this time sending him into a coughing fit.

Bruce's eyes widened in surprise as the teen started hacking up his lungs on his front step. So this is what Max had meant.

"You're sick." It was not a question.

Terry nodded, covering both hands over his mouth and trying to get his lungs to relax so he could breathe. His eyes were starting to water.

Bruce frowned. He felt guilty now, he shouldn't had been so hasty with Max early. Terry sounded bad and standing out in this weather wasn't helping him. So Bruce reached out and pulled Terry in by his shoulder.

"Come on." And Bruce led him through the hallway, passed the living room, were the old godfather clock stood, hiding the bat cave.

Instead he took Terry to another living room, were Terry had only been twice. It was right next to the kitchen and a bathroom was the next room over. Bruce had usually spent his sick days in this living room. Alfred had always made sure Bruce was near a bathroom when he was sick.

Bruce dragged Terry into the room and sat him down on the couch, all the while, Terry was still coughing. He had managed to stop for a bit, but started up again when he took too deep of a breath.

Ace sat on the other end of the corner couch, taking up that entire end that stretched out straight. Terry shivered as he sat and Bruce disappeared into the kitchen. Ace lifted his head and whined, crawling a bit closer to Terry. Terry smiled and reached out with one hand and patted the Great Dane.

"Hey, boy." He managed through some coughs.

Ace whined again and nuzzled Terry's hand as it moved away.

Bruce came back out with a bundle of blankets and what looked to be a thermometer. Terry reached out to take a blanket from Bruce with shaky hands. Bruce frowned and didn't give him one. Instead he unfolded one himself and swung it over Terry's shoulders, pulling it down and closed it over the teen's chest.

"Turn your head." Bruce instructed and Terry did so.

Bruce switched the thermometer on and stuck it in Terry's ear, waited for it to beep and pulled it back out. The small black numbers flashed up at Bruce.

103.7 degrees.

Bruce frowned.

"Did you go to school?"

Terry nodded and snuffled, pulling the blanket closer to him.

"It can't be that bad. I'll go get suited up." Terry's scratchy voice whispered.

Bruce's strong hands stopped him.

"No, it is that bad, you won't be able to focus."

Terry didn't even bother to fight.

"I'll go out on a quick run."

Terry shot his head up to star at Bruce in the face, which hurt his neck from looking up so high.

"What?"

Bruce chuckled and ruffled Terry's hair. He was surprised at his own touch, but Bruce didn't show it.

"Don't worry, McGinnis, I'm not taking over."

Terry relaxed back into the couch and nodded.

"Stay here, I'll be back in an hour or so."

Terry nodded again and watched Bruce exit the room.

Sniffling Terry spotted the large TV in front of him and looked around for the remote, which just happened to be on the long coffee table, at the other end. Terry groaned.

Next to him, Ace looked up at the groan and watched Terry. Terry smiled at the dog.

"Hey, boy, want to get me the remote?" Terry whispered, pointing to the remote and then to himself.

Ace barked and stood from and jumped down to the floor. Grabbed the remote between his huge jaws, turned around, and in a two steps forward dropped it in Terry's lap, surprisingly slobber free.

"Thanks, boy." Terry crooked and patted Ace's head.

Ace jumped back up on the couch, giving Terry enough space to curl up and lay down and Terry did just that. He shifted a bit before resting his head on, the soft arm cushion and pulled the blanket up to his neck, curling his body inward and bending his knees, his feet tucked under Ace's paws and chin. His shoes lay on the floor where he had kicked them off. The lull of the TV and the pitter-patter of the rain led Terry into a light sleep. His hand went limp around the remote and his breathing evened out, his chest rising and falling deeply. Every time he breathed in though a small whistling noise came from him since his noise was so clogged with mucus.

Terry drifted in and out of sleep, for the next two hours. He had weird dreams that he would wake from with a jolt. His eyes fluttered when a loud noise would spark from the TV, but he managed to sleep most of the two hours. The four times he did drift awake, his vision was blurred and he fell right back asleep. It was the silence that woke Terry for the final time. It was dark in the living room, the TV shut off and Ace was missing from his feet. Terry breathed in deep as best he could and slowly and weakly pushed himself up. He bit the inside of his lip lightly as he rubbed his right temple, pushing back messed hair. His body ached and he was still cold, even with his thick long sleeves and wool blanket. He yawned, popping his jaw, and stretched before blinking sleep from his eyes and glancing around to see if Ace was anywhere on the floor.

Not having a victory, Terry stood, a bit wobbly at first and headed out into the hallway into the kitchen across from the room. The light was on and the soft thud of feet walking reached Terry's ears. He shivered as he stepped into the large kitchen and blinked at the brightness.

"Ow." He muttered, the light was a bit too bright.

Bruce turned, hearing Terry's soft pain expression. In his hand, he held a large mug, steam rising from it. Ace lay on the soft carpet under the sink, raising his head when Terry walked in. on the stove a pot sat and something bubbled in it. If Terry could smell, he was sure it would smell good. Bruce walked over to the light switch and turned the circle knob to the left a bit, dimming the lights.

"Better?" he asked, coming up to Terry and giving the mug to him.

Terry nodded and took the mug with shaky hands. He lifted it to his face and smiled as the hot steam ran into his nose and eyes. Bruce chuckled,

"Well drink it, it works better."

Terry smiled and lifted the mug rim to his lips, slowly pouring the hot liquid down his throat. It wasn't coffee and It wasn't hot chocolate either. It had an odd taste to it, good, but odd. After a long sip, Terry lowered the mug from his lips and gave Bruce a confused expression.

"It's tea."

"You drink tea?" Terry whispered and frowned at the still scratchiness of his voice.

"Only when I'm sick," Bruce smiled.

Terry hummed a response and moved a bit to quickly to take another drink. His vision swam and he stumbled back a bit. He was expecting to fall, but Bruce's strong hands caught his arm, the other on the middle of his back.

"Why don't you sit down?"

Terry frowned, Bruce's voice was oddly gentle…and he was being oddly nice too.

Terry sighed as Bruce sat him down in a chair, the mug being set on the table next to him.

"God, I feel old." Terry said and froze, looking at Bruce.

Bruce chuckled and patted Terry's shoulder.

"And to think, I used to feel that way all the time."

Terry smiled.

"So, catch anyone?" Terry asked.

Bruce shook his head and walked over to the stove, checked whatever was inside it and turned the heat off with a small push of a button. He walked over to the cabinets and took down two bowls.

"That's good, I guess." Terry shivered again and pulled the blanket closer around him.

Bruce nodded and a comfortable silence fell in the kitchen. Terry watched as Bruce poured the soup from the pot into the two different bowls. Watched as he shuffled around the kitchen, getting spoons, placing them on the table along with the bowls. As he gathered dog food and dumped three four cups into a dog bowl for Ace. As he filled up Ace's water bowl as well. It was odd, seeing Bruce being...homey. He never really expected Bruce to know how to cook (granted it was only soup, but still). Never knew that Bruce could be so…well loving was the word. He was taking care of Terry as if…as if he loved him.

Terry sighed. He imaged this was how Bruce treated Talia. Too bad it wouldn't last for him.

"I called your house."

Terry looked up from the bowl of soup placed in front of him.

"Mom's away on a business trip for the week, she took Matt with her."

Bruce nodded,

"Then you can stay here until you're better."

Terry blinked.

"What?"

"It's too cold for you to be running around. It's easier if you stay here."

"I still have to go to school."

"I'll call you in."

Terry gave him a look.

"You're not my guardian, they won't count that."

Bruce smiled,

"Oh, I think they will this time."

Terry eyed Bruce suspiciously before starting to eat his soup. If Bruce really wanted to keep him out of school, that was fine by him.

"Well, if I stay for the week, I need some stuff from home."

"I know, I put it in one of the rooms."

Terry gaped at Bruce.

"You broke into my house?"

Bruce laughed.

"No, I took your key."

"Oh."

Terry was quiet after that until he finished the soup. He blushed; Bruce had been in his room…which wasn't very clean. He had gone through his stuff…all of his stuff, well not all of it. Still…

"Terry."

Terry snapped out of his gaze. Bruce was standing next to him, Ace standing behind Bruce. Both bowls were gone and the tea in the mug gone cold.

"Come on, I'll show you were your room will be."

Terry stood and followed Bruce, who was walking much slower than normal, probably so Terry could keep up.

It was warm throughout the mansion, but Terry still felt chills. It also seemed like it took forever to get to the room but when they did, Bruce didn't give Terry a choice to leave it. Not that Terry had a problem with that, he was dead tired and fell asleep the moment he pulled the covers over his head and Bruce closed the door.

Outside Bruce headed back into the kitchen to finish cleaning up, Ace at his heel. He was surprised when Terry showed up sick. He also felt bad; he had problem something to do with it. He knew Terry didn't get much sleep and the cold weather only weakened his immune system more. Bruce knew how that was; during the winter, he had always been more prone to sickness when he first started being Batman as well. He could understand how Terry was feeling.

Bruce smiled to himself as he undressed for bed, Ace already at the foot of the mattress. Terry was amusing when he was sick and unfortunately (or fortunately), he was adorable as well. Bruce found out that Terry could possible get anything from him.

It didn't take long for Bruce to fall asleep either, which felt a bit odd to him since it was still early. Well, early for Batman.

_Bruce woke 5 hours later, at three in the morning. Something seemed odd. He sat up and glanced around, Ace was missing. Rising Bruce headed out into the hallway, looking for Ace. He didn't have to go far though. He found Ace sitting outside the room Terry was sleeping in. _

"_What's the matter, boy?" Bruce asked, rubbing Ace's ears._

_Ace just pawed the door whined and then turned around to head back to the Master suit of the mansion. Bruce watched Ace go back to his room with a bit of confusion. The Dane seemed to think Terry was in need of something, but he wasn't anxious, still, Bruce wanted to check and make sure. So he opened the door as quietly as he could, in case Terry was still asleep. He wasn't expecting Terry to be awake though._

"_Terry? Are you alright?"_

_Terry was sitting up in bed, blankets kicked to the bottom, pillows all piled around him. He sat leaning against them, his black boxer's tight and went down to mid thigh. He was starting down at his feet, hands collapsed loosely in front of him. He glanced up through his bangs at Bruce's voice. _

"_I'm cold."_

_Bruce frowned and stepped forward climbed onto the bed and took Terry's hands into his. He slid his hands up and down Terry's arms and then placed them over his own neck and pulled Terry close to him. Terry's body was shivering as their skin touched and Bruce felt Terry's arms tighten around his neck, pulling teen up and closer to him. Bruce sighed and let his hand drift into Terry's hair and stroke the strains. His other hand running down the shivering teen's back, tracing his spine. _

"_why aren't you sleeping under the blankets?" Bruce whispered in Terry's ear. _

_Terry just whimpered something and pulled himself closer to Bruce._

"_I'm so cold." And then Terry pulled back and looked up at Bruce through his bangs again, this time a needing glare. _

"_Terry…"_

"_Warm me up, Bruce." Terry whispered and lunched up, pressing his lips against Bruce's._

_Bruce sat there on the bed, not responding. Hadn't Terry's voice been scratchy early? But as Terry pushed his body harder against Bruce's, the once Batman began to kiss back. He pushed against Terry, having him lay down, Bruce hovering over him. When Terry gasped as Bruce's hands slid down to his inner thighs, Bruce slipped his tongue in Terry's mouth. He needed to taste the teen. It was a sloppy kiss, but Bruce didn't care. He stroked Terry's tongue with his own, getting the suddenly shy teen to play back with _

_him. His hands slowly pushed up and down Terry's inner thighs, reaching the spot that Terry wanted him to touch most before slowly running them back down, getting whimpers from the teen below him. He broke the kiss, Terry panting heavily and looking up at him with lust filled eyes. Terry bit his lip and his eyes fluttered as Bruce bent down and began to teeth his collarbone. Terry's shaky hands came up and slid into Bruce's black hair, tugging._

"_Bruce…"_

_Bruce growled against Terry's flesh and bit harder, making Terry cry out, before gently tonguing the same spot, drawing lazy circles. Terry's hands tugged harder at his hair and he moaned again. Bruce chuckled against Terry's skin and closed his lips over the sore area and sucked, hard._

_Terry once again moaned but this time it sound more like a…bark?_

Bruce 's eyes shot open as Ace's loud bark filled his eyes again. He frowned and sat up, looking to the sound.

"What's the matter boy?"

Ace barked again and ran around the bed and then to the door and scratched at it. Bruce frowned and forgot all about his dream in an instant, though his body didn't quiet as fast. He grabbed a pair of sweats and slipped them on, opened the door and followed Ace as the Great Dane rushed out the door. Bruce had to break into a slight run as Ace ran down the hallway and into the opened door of Terry's room. Bruce frowned, he had closed it. Bruce rushed in a few seconds after Ace and found the dog nuzzling Terry, who was sprawled on the floor.

"Shit." Bruce uttered and rushed to Terry's fallen body, knelt down and gently lifted the sick teen from the floor.

Terry gave a sickly moan as he did so, but he didn't wake. Bruce was unsure if leaving Terry alone was a good idea, so he turned and brought the teen back to his room, placing Terry in his king size bed and pulling the covers over his body. Ace whined and placed his head on the mattress, watching Terry.

"Good, boy, Ace." Bruce said, scratching the dog's head.

Bruce quickly went into his bathroom and grabbed the thermometer, cold medicine, water in a glass, water in a bowl, and a small white towel. He placed all of them on the bedside table, keeping the thermometer in his hand and turning Terry's head to the side. Terry's fever had been dangerously high if it got up to 104 he would have to take Terry to the hospital. He hoped it hadn't gotten that high. Gently, Bruce repeated the 

same action from early and looked at the small black numbers once again, it flashed 103.8 at him. Terry's fever had only gone up a bit, but it was still too high.

Placing the thermometer on the table side, Bruce took the glass of water, slid a hand at the base of Terry's neck and lifted the glass to Terry's lips.

"Terry." Bruce whispered and shook the boy slightly.

Terry moaned and his lips parted, but he didn't wake.

Bruce slowly poured the water down Terry's throat, stroking the side with his thumb to make it easier for him to swallow the liquid while asleep. He continued the action until the glass was half-empty. Placing that back on the table, Bruce soaked the small towel in the bowel of water before ringing it out and repeating the action twice more. With a final twist, the extra water dribbled out of the towel, leaving it cool and moist. Bruce untwisted it and folded it to fit on Terry's forehead. He pushed back Terry's bangs and placed the towel on the hot skin. Terry sighed and turned his head slightly towards Bruce's touch.

Bruce sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed. Things were really getting out of hand. Bruce had to do something about it fast, either he let himself be happy for once or ignored it, as he had with Dick. He reached over and smoothed Terry's hair back. Maybe this one time, it could actually work…maybe.

Bruce had to admit though; he had tried to run from this. The moment he had gotten back from Talia's lab, young forever, he thought he knew the perfect way to get rid of this feeling for Terry. Women, young, hot women. Young, hot women that would now die to go out with him. Not only was he rich, but young…forever. So he threw himself into parties and nights out for the last three weeks. But the last one had stopped last night. When Barbra had brought up Terry at his latest 'business meeting' well that was it. Bruce had to face it, he didn't want young, hot women, he wanted a young hot teenage male and he was pretty sure Terry felt something for him back. If he didn't, there was always the playboy charm that Bruce could pull, even when he was old he could sort of still do it. God only knows how much Terry's mother had practically thrown herself at him, Terry saw it too.

Bruce stroked Terry's cheek with his knuckles before standing and stretching. It was 5:30 in the morning and he would be getting up in half an hour, there was no use going back to bed. Besides, he didn't need to go to Wayne tower every day. Yesterday had been a meeting. Bruce didn't have an office here in the mansion for nothing.

He left the door open to hear Terry if he got up and gave Ace a command to stay with the black-haired teen as well.

Bruce grabbed a sweater and pulled it over his bare chest; he needed to go raise the heat as well. He would work on whatever didn't get done yesterday until Terry woke and then he planned on having a long talk with the current Batman.

* * *

So, another chapter done. Next one is going to be really fun to write, haha, I bet you guys can gues what their going to talk about...or you know...maybe not talk...lol! Anyway, please review and don't forget if you want the juice version it will be on my Deviant Art site, the website/link is at the top of the page. You can't miss it. Thanks for reading guys!! Love ya!

-Laters,

H-Relics

* * *


	3. Chapter 3

_**Difference**_

Summery: What if Bruce had gotten his eternal youth experiment complete and still managed to keep his own self in his body. So now, he has eternal youth…forever. Based after the episode, Out of The past. Plus, as Terry has finally gotten Gotham used to Batman being around again, the villains suddenly become just as psychotic, if not more so than in Bruce's time. And the first one out of the darkness, a scare-crow copy-cat…well, so it seems.

ok, re-posting, the right chapter this time. Thanks guys! Sorry about that, I didn't realize. lol! Well, now I hope you enjoy the real third chapter! lol It's kind of short, sorry about that. I'll make up for it in the next chapter! Please review!! Thanks!

Enjoy!!

* * *

Ch. 3

Terry woke with a shiver and curled closer into himself. He hated being sick, being sick meant being cold, and Terry hated to be cold. Curling up wasn't helping him much so Terry twisted around to find a warmer spot. Unfortunately, Terry was in an unfamiliar bed and in shifting, he fell right off and onto the floor.

Ace looked down at Terry from the foot of the bed and thumped his tail.

Groaning, Terry pushed himself up and looked up at Ace,

"Don't give me that look."

Ace gave a small woof and wagged his tail in a laughing manner.

This wouldn't be the first time Terry fell out of bed, he'd done it before, many times actually. It was becoming a rather embarrassing habit. Rubbing at his eyes, Terry stretched before standing. His throat didn't hurt as much yesterday, though his voice was still quite scratchy. He didn't feel as cold either, though he got shivers. Terry took a light breath and found that breathing through his noise was a lot better as well. A good night's sleep was all he needed to be well on his way to healing. Still, he didn't feel great. Plus, he wanted pants, which was he was missing as of the moment. Terry turned to grab his bag that Bruce had taken from his home when Terry realized he was in a completely different room.

"Huh…"

Judging by how well taken care of it was, the room was Bruce's. Terry stretched again and headed for the door, a bit confused as to how he got in Bruce's room.

Ace followed him into the hallway and back into the room Terry had been before. It didn't take very long to grab loose sweat pants and slip them on, though he did so lazily, as the cloth hung low on his hips. Terry also grabbed a long-sleeved, dark crimson, shirt and slipped it over his head. The sleeves were a bit long, allowing only half of his fingers to be visible. He pulled at it a bit, as he walked back into the hallway, the shirt was a little too tight as well, but he kept it because it was warm.

He wandered around the mansion for a while, most of it he hadn't ever been before, he usually just went into the bat cave and main living room. He'd only been in one of the many bathrooms and the kitchen four times. As he went exploring throughout the mansion, Terry hoped he would be able to find his way back. Many of the hallways and rooms looked almost exactly alike; he could not believe Bruce never got lost. He had too have gotten lost, at least once. Terry wasn't too worried though, Ace was following him around, keeping an eye on him no doubt. It was a little scary how smart Ace was at times.

Terry must have wandered around for a good 20 minutes until he heard the soft tapping of computer keys. Curious, Terry followed the sound as best he could. He turned a corner with haste as the sound suddenly stopped. Instead of meeting an empty hallway though, Terry ran into Bruce's strong chest, making him stumble back, startled. Ace barked happily and once again, Terry got the feeling that the Great Dane was laughing at him.

"Terry."

"Good morning."

"You mean afternoon." Bruce corrected, pointing to a clock in the room he had just stepped out of.

Terry glanced in, 1:30, he had slept that long.

"I called you in."

Terry nodded stepping aside as Bruce moved pasted him. Terry followed,

"Don't you need to be at work?"

"That's what I was doing. I have an office here, in case something else needs my attention more than Wayne Company."

Terry blushed a bit at the unsaid words there. Something else as in him.

"Are you feeling better?" Bruce asked, not turning back to look at Terry.

"A little, though falling out of your bed didn't help."

Bruce stopped, turned around, and gave Terry a skeptical look. Terry shrugged.

"What? I fall out of beds easily."

"I'll try to remember that."

Terry was about to ask what for, but a sudden image of him cuddled up with Bruce in a bed made him bit his tongue. Terry couldn't help a small smile, Bruce was starting to be flirty. And Terry certainly hoped that Bruce had a good reason to remember that as well, at least, a true reason.

Terry followed Bruce into the kitchen in which Terry realized how hungry he was. Lucky for him Bruce had been in the need for lunch as well, something was cooking in the oven. The smell brought Terry to remember a question from the other day he wanted to ask.

"Since when can you cook?"

Bruce glanced at him from the sink, the water running.

"Since Alfred died. He made sure I could. He always told me I would die when he did if I didn't learn how to boil water."

Terry could tell the last bit was an exaggeration, but probably exactly what Alfred had said. One thing that Terry also learned about Bruce was that he remembered almost everything someone said. Terry tended to forget within the day, or at least, not remember the right words.

Terry shivered and tugged at his already long sleeves. He would have to be careful and not over due things. Terry tended to jump right back into life when he had any indication of getting better, even if it was so slight as too a headache going away. He had the habit since he was a kid and found it difficult to break. His mother always got mad at him when he would insist on going back to school on a day where he was still running a fever. His father though didn't discourage it as much, which was probably why it was a habit now.

"Here."

Terry blinked and took the mug that Bruce had shoved in his face.

"More tea?"

"Yes, drink all of it this time."

Terry smiled and took a sip; it tasted different then last night, probably a different flavor tea. Terry stood near the doorway, sipping the tea, and watching Bruce move around the kitchen for a bit until the taller man came up to him.

"We need to talk."

Terry frowned, those were usually not good words, from anyone…ever. But Bruce didn't look upset so Terry followed him into the living room and took a seat on the couch when Bruce instructed to. Bruce himself didn't sit, instead he stood, looking down at Terry and then walked two steps to the left, stopped, looked at the floor and took four steps to the right. Terry watched him with mild amusement.

Bruce was aware that he was pacing, but he wasn't sure how he wanted to bring this up. What if he was wrong? Bruce glanced down at Terry, who sat with his legs criss-crossed, mug held in both hands, and huddled in on himself, watching Bruce with his big, crystal eyes. A thought crossed Bruce's mind, not the best one, but it did never the less, and because Bruce was fretting over how to start this conversation, the thought popped out subconsciously.

"How are you and Dana?"

Terry frowned and dropped his shoulders.

"We're not together anymore."

Bruce was tempted to but sarcasm into his voice, but he held back.

"That's too bad."

Terry shrugged and took a sip from the mug.

"I guess, it doesn't bother me as much as it should…or as much as it would have a…a while ago."

Bruce stopped pacing then. A while ago, as in when Terry became Batman. Bruce rang both of his wrists in thought before sitting down on the coffee table, in front of Terry.

"Why is that?" Bruce asked, leaning forward a bit.

Terry had dropped his head, his hair falling halfway into his face. His thumbs traced the rim of the mug and Terry bit his lip, deciding whether to tell Bruce the truth or not.

"Well…" Terry said, looking up through his hair.

But Bruce deiced that maybe talking it out first wasn't the easiest of ways. Especially since he himself didn't really talk that much about his emotions. And Terry, well he was a teen and as many teens do say how they feel, most of them are not comfortable in their deepest emotions. So, Bruce decided to take action, be blunt, that was how he did things as Batman, so why not take the same concept with this?

Bruce cut Terry off before he said anything more by rushing forward and kissing Terry hungrily. Terry sat up straight, caught off guard and Bruce stood, stepped closer, looming over Terry, and slipping a hand up to cup his cheek. Terry sighed against Bruce's lips and slowly parted his own.

In response, Bruce darted his tongue in Terry's hot, most, mouth the moment he felt Terry's lips move. Bruce nearly groaned and he slid his hand up into Terry's thick hair. This was better than any dream, better than any memory, than any fantasy, and it was just one kiss. Bruce couldn't go back now, not when he had dived headfirst.

Terry whimpered as his air supply started to run short and Bruce pulled back, but he didn't go very far.

"Ah…"

"Terry, this is only going to happen if you want it too." Bruce said, even though he knew that wasn't true. If Terry didn't want to happen, he was going to get him to want it to happen. Bruce didn't pretend to be a playboy for nothing.

"No, no…I mean, yes, I do…you're…ah, going to get sick…" Terry finished off with a mutter.

Bruce chuckled and kissed Terry's forehead.

"Terry…this, isn't going to be easy."

Terry frowned.

"Sure it will, Bruce, I want this, you want it, it can't get any easier than that."

Bruce shook his head and ran his fingers through Terry's hair.

"Terry, we have to keep this a secret, for now."

Terry frowned even more.

"Why?"

"For one, you're under age still. I could be sent to jail. And people haven't grown accustom to homosexual relationships over the last 50 years as much as some people want it too."

Terry sighed, Bruce was right. Then there was the age difference, not just, because Terry was under age, but well…Bruce was 30…well now anyway. Technically he was still an 80 year old man, he had lived that long. There was still the whole Batman thing to deal with as well. Terry had his own things to worry about as well. His mother couldn't find out, at least not until he was out of high school….well out of high school, which he had to get through itself. His little brother wouldn't understand, his mother wouldn't want him knowing anyway. There was also college coming up in the next two years. Terry sighed and rubbed his temples, all these sudden problems and his cold was giving him a headache.

Bruce frowned as he watched Terry go through problems in his mind. It was clearly frustrating the teen and putting stress on him.

"Maybe this wasn't a good idea. We shouldn't do this." Bruce said and Terry's head shot up so fast his vision swarm.

"No. I want this to happen, I don't care how hard it could get."

Bruce placed his strong hands on Terry's shoulders, stroking the teen's collarbone's with his thumbs.

"You're sure?" Bruce asked.

Terry glared at him and leaned upward, pushing against Bruce in a chaste kiss, though it only lasted for a few seconds, just as an action to get his point across.

"Yeah."

"Ok."

Bruce knew how hard it could get. There were Terry's issues that would combine with his own as well as the obvious ones. But if Terry was willing to get through all of them, than Bruce was willing to try. He would not start something this…special to him, if Terry was going to just give up so easily. But it might not end up as hard as they were thinking either, it could actually turn out rather easy. The media of course would have a field day if they ever found out, which they wouldn't until Terry turned 18, then Bruce would think about being less secretive. And many Gotham citizens would not be happy about the obvious age difference and the same sex relationship. Bruce was more worried about the age difference. As much as people were still intolerant of same sex relationships, it wasn't as nearly as bad as it was 50 years ago.

There was always Terry himself. Most teens had 'relationships' for a couple months before they got tired of each other. Few lucky teen couples lasted for more than one year, if one year alone, at least to Bruce's knowledge. Bruce had the causal swing before, well, really he had the recent swings, he had dated many women, probably half of Gotham's women. But when he was in a relationship he wanted it to last.

"Terry, this isn't going to be a short thing either."

Terry nodded.

"If you get tired of me too bad."

Terry laughed, only to end up in a coughing fit. Bruce sat back onto the table as Terry's coughs consumed him. He had almost forgotten that Terry was sick. Which reminded him.

Terry watched Bruce curiously, when he suddenly stood and walked out of the room. He returned moments later with the thermometer. He repeated the last two times, instructing Terry to turn his head and then waited for the small black numbers to blink at him once again. Bruce was satisfied with the number, his fever had gone down and was almost gone, but that didn't mean he was any better. It would probably go back up as evening came, but Bruce was going to do all he could to keep Terry from being productive.

He repeated his actions from yesterday, grabbing a blanket and covering Terry, instructing the teen to lay down with a small kiss to his forehead.

"You should rest."

"I just woke up."

Bruce smiled, brushed back Terry's hair and stood, not answering the teen. Terry huffed, but curled up anyway, he still did feel weak. He wasn't tired, but his eyes drifted shut as he listened to Bruce moving around. It wasn't long before he was out.

Bruce came back in the living room to check on him 30 minutes later and smiled, Terry sprawled out on the couch, his arm stretched out, head resting on it. His hair fell in front of his face, swaying as Terry breathed in and out. Even though they had talked, Bruce wasn't done discussing it with Terry. Still, he had to talk to someone about it, but those people were stretched thin. He couldn't talk to Barbra about what he wanted, she would just shake her head and disapprove. Any of the old robins, nightwing, they were out, he hadn't talked to them in years. Terry's mother was also out of the question; still Bruce didn't really want to talk to her about this, ever. It was times like this that Bruce wished Alfred were still alive.

So Bruce settled for sitting next to Terry, stroking his hair and watching the teen sleep. The day only half over, and Bruce felt as if it had been a week. Even more than a week since Terry was here, even though this was only the second day.

Still, as serious this was or was going to become, Bruce couldn't help the goofy smile on his face. Things would work out eventually, and It would be ok in the end.

* * *

Yay, another chapter. I'll not sure when I'll get the next one up, hopefully within the month, school is starting soon, so, I'll have to make time! Thanks for reading guys!!

-Laters

H-Relics


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